Riding the Raisina Tiger

Riding the Raisina Tiger - a Politico-military thriller about an Army Chief who decided to take things into his own hands. AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD ON 26 JAN ON OCCASION OF REPUBLIC DAY FROM https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Raisina-Tiger-Story-military-ebook/dp/B01ALCCNSS

Blogitorial

Click to read the article on Swordarm

Custom Search Engine - Scans Selected News Sites

Loading

Thursday, 17 October 2013

The US-based ship
detained off Tuticorin port for illegally carrying arms and ammunition will not
be allowed to move out till the probe was over, Shipping Minister G K Vasan
said today as Tamil Nadu Q Branch Police took over the investigation from
Marine police.

"We are still
to find answers to many questions, the probe will bring out the truth. Till
then, the ship will not be allowed to move out of Tuticorin port", he told
reporters here.

Vasan's remarks
assumed significance in the backdrop of BJP voicing concern over what it called
the Centre's "silence" over the detaining of M V Seaman Guard Ohio
and its demand that the government come clean on the issue.

Meanwhile, in
Tuticorin, a Q Branch team, led by Superintendent of Police K Bhavaneeswari,
questioned some crew members and obtained details on various issues, including
the arms and ammunition stored onboard the vessel. The state government had
yesterday transferred the probe into the ship case to the Q Branch. Sources
said the the Q Branch team perused records available on board the ship and they
were being scrutinised.

The ship flying
the Sierra Leone flag was intercepted by the Coast Guard in Indian waters some
15 nautical miles off Tuticorin coast on October 12 and an FIR registered
against 35 persons onboard under the Arms Act for carrying arms without
authorisation and Essential Commodities Act for buying 1,500 litres of diesel
illegally with the help of a local shipping agent. — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131017/nation.htm#12

Indian, Bhutanese troops undertake cycle
expedition

Tribune News
Service

Chandigarh,
October 16

To develop
synergy, better understanding, camaraderie and brotherhood amongst troops of
Indian Army and the Royal Bhutan Army, a joint cycle expedition is being
undertaken in the Himalayas.

The expedition,
flagged-off from Drugyel Dzong in Bhutan by the Commandant, Indian Military
Training Team (IMTRAT) on October 12, was received and flagged-off to its next
destination from Binnaguri Maj Gen BK Pande, General Officer Commanding, Kripan
Division, yesterday, according to a statement issued here.

The 25-member team
of soldiers from both armies is being led by Lt AK Singh of 4 Dogra. The Dogra
regiment comprises troops belonging to Himachal Pradesh and part of Punjab and
Jammu region.

Over a course of
seven days, the team members will traverse 473 km through Drugyel Dzong,
Chimakothi (both in Bhutan), Hasimara, Binnaguri, Bagrakot, Pedong, Sevoke and
Sukna in West Bengal, where it is scheduled to be flagged-in on October 18 the
General Officer Commanding 33 Corps, Lt Gen KJ Singh.

NEW DELHI: Jolted
by a series of officer-jawan brawls in its ranks over the last three years, the
Army is undertaking a major revamp of its human resource development (HRD)
policies to ensure adequate number of officers with "requisite leadership
skills" are present in each battalion.

Army chief General
Bikram Singh has directed all the six operational commands — and the 13 Corps
under them — in the 1.13-million strong force to implement the "new HRD
philosophy" that is geared towards "saving around 43,000 officer
man-days" every year.

The availability
of more officers in each battalion — the infantry alone has 355 battalions —
for "proper command and control" of its 800-900 soldiers is felt to
be a critical requirement. At present, there is a crippling shortage of
officers in the Army, making do as it is with only 37,509 of them as compared
to an "authorised strength" of 47,916. To make matters worse, the
overwhelming deficiency is in the junior ranks of lieutenants, captains, majors
and lieutenant-colonels, who actually lead the troops into battle.

"An infantry
battalion is authorised 21 officers. But even units deployed in forward areas
barely have 10-12 officers each. Apart from the general shortage, each
battalion has to send young officers for a multitude of courses," said a
senior officer.

As per the new HRD
guidelines, based on a study conducted by the Army Training Command-based in
Shimla, the number, duration and capacity of courses has been curtailed.
"Certain courses like signals, behavioural and social sciences have been
scrapped. New courses like leadership development, in turn, have been
introduced," said another officer.

Incidentally, the
Army has projected a requirement of 16,222 additional officers by 2020 in tune
with the raising of the new mountain strike corps and other modernization
projects. Much like the officers, a new HRD philosophy for the around 91,000
JCOs (junior commissioned officers like subedars), who act as the bridge
between officers and jawans, is also in the works. Both officers and JCOs have
been found wanting in the recent face-offs, with their high-handed behaviour
infuriating the jawans.

"The Army for
long has had a feudal culture. But the socioeconomic-educational gap between
the officers and jawans has lessened over the last decade. Then there is big
dip in leadership qualities and moral fibre among officers. Seniors also do not
properly mentor junior officers like it was done before," said a retired
general.

With at least six
officer-jawan face-offs being reported since mid-2010, the Army leadership has
been dwelling upon the measures needed to stem the `increase in indiscipline
cases" and the "deteriorating officer-men relationship" that can
corrode the very backbone of the highly-disciplined force. With General Bikram
Singh holding there will be "zero-tolerance" for such cases, the Army
commanders conference from next week is also expected to discuss the issue.

Controversial plans to restructure the Army
are “failing” because cuts to the defence budget are putting off potential new
soldiers and making Britain a “hostile recruiting environment”, according to a
leaked document.

The memo, which is
understood to have had wide distribution within the Ministry of Defence, says
that “disappointing” recruitment to the new Army Reserve means that targets for
a larger part-time force will not be reached.

The recruitment
crisis means the Army faces “increased risk to its structure and operational
capability”, according to the document, which has been seen by The Telegraph.

The Coalition is
cutting the full-time Army from 102,000 to about 82,000 soldiers. Those cuts
are supposed to be offset by a major expansion in the part-term reserve force,
which was expected to grow from about 19,000 to 30,000.

The 10-page
report, dated Aug 6 and marked “restricted”, claims the Army is currently
recruiting barely half the number of new reservists needed to hit that target.

A day after the
24-year-old Saujanya, the wife of an Army non-commissioned officer (NCO), was
found murdered in her Sarojini Nagar home, investigators have found that money
was missing from her purse, even though no other articles or valuables were
found to have been stolen.

Police had earlier
said no evidence of robbery had been found, and even the locks on the almirahs
were untouched. However, the woman Saujanya's husband Kishore claimed that Rs
1500 was missing from her purse.

Police sources
said the husband was a prime suspects so far as there were no signs of forced
entry. Police are waiting for the autopsy report to confirm the time of death.

"If the time
of death is found to be before 8 am on Tuesday, Kishore would be put under the
radar. He usually leaves home around 8 am and returns at 6 pm," a source
said.

However, police
enquiries made at the Sena Bhavan found that Kishore, a head constable with the
Army, had been in his office all day.

Saujanya was found
dead on Tuesday evening by Kishore when he returned home from work. Preliminary
medical reports showed that she had multiple stab wounds and her throat had
been slit.

The couple, who
hail from Andhra Pradesh, was allotted government accommodation in Delhi
recently after Kishore was transferred here.

Police sources
also said the investigation team was trying to track down all people whose
mobile numbers were found to be active in the area during the time of the
murder. They are likely to be questioned individually to ascertain the reason
of their presence in the area at that time.

Hinduja Group
company Ashok Leyland, along with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is reportedly
on the verge of getting an order from the Indian Army, to supply Multi Barrel
Rocket Launchers.

V Sumantran,
vice-chairman of Ashok Leyland, told Business Standard: “We (it is a joint bid
with L&T) are the L1 (meaning, lowest bidder) in the tender which was
opened. Discussions are going on. Most likely, we will execute the order to
supply about 100 units.”

He said the
company was also making efforts to boost its presence in defence logistics,
with a heavier truck programme.

It may be noted,
all the transport and logistics the company we do in Ashok Leyland, the
tactical armoured vehicles and special projects are done through defence
company. “We do about around 2,000 vehicles every year. This year also we will
do the same level”.

Ashok Leyland
Defence Systems (ALDS), a joint venture company, provides solutions for defence
requirements. According to the company's website, the two partners for the
company's business in this segment are Panhard General Defense, France, and
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) GmbH and Co KG, Germany. The company is the largest
supplier of logistics vehicles to the Indian Army. “We do about 2,000 vehicles
every year,” said Sumantran.

Leyland also
supplies a large number of vehicles for various applications to the air force
and navy, and to para-military forces, such as troop carriers, refuellers,
vehicles for gun mounting, fire-fighting, UAV support and recovery vehicles,
flat-bed trucks and buses.

According to
Sumantran, defence was adjacency for the company which it saw as part of its
strategies in the last five years. “It is logical to grow and it is something
that the company felt will provide the scale and will help to leverage its
competency and capability”.

He noted last five
years were spent on the backdrop of a careful and clear strategic growth plan.
The company which has been core medium and heavy vehicle (M&HCV), realised
that scale is important to grow.

“In this industry without
scale you can't be a long time player and for us to achieve scale, we did
number of things, apart from core business (commercial vehicles, buses,
foundries, engines),” he added.

Then the company saw a huge
growth on the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) side, and it was a logical
investment along with Nissan and then it saw an opportunity in construction
equipment and infrastructure and therefore it made investment, along with John
Deere.

While these gave more
platform, ofcourse tit also invested in upgrading its products and capacities
on the core business, which is M&HCV. The new Pantnagar, Uttarkhand is a
fully integrated and importantly higher productivity with lower cost, said
Sumantaran.

“Now its time for us to
realise the benefit of more modern product lines, benefits of productive
manufacturing plant and realise the benefit of better products features,
performance like fuel efficiency. I would say bulk of our investments are
behind us and now hopefully we will make better harvesting from the investments
we made,” said Sumantaran.

The Indian Army on Wednesday paid homage to
the soldier killed in Pakistani firing a day earlier even as his colleagues
described him as a brave fighter.

Wreaths were laid
on behalf of the Northern Army Commander at a ceremony at Rajouri to pay
tributes to Lance Naik Mohd Firoz Khan of Rashtriya Rifles.

The soldier was
killed following unprovoked firing by the Pakistan Army from across the Line of
Control (LoC) in Bhimber Gali in Rajouri district.

Soldiers who
witnessed the heavy mortar shelling by the Pakistanis on Tuesday followed by
heavy firing from both sides said Khan was a fearless and dedicated soldier.

"He did not
falter even in the face of heavy firing while maintaining vigil on the
LoC," which divides Jammu and Kashmir between Pakistan and India, a
defence ministry statement quoted a soldier as saying.

Khan, 31, was a
resident of Hyderabad and is survived by his wife and two children.

Seeking to prevent
face-offs between the two armies along the LAC, India and China are expected to
sign Border Defence Cooperation Agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's three-day visit to China starting from October 22.

The Cabinet
Committee on Security is expected to discuss the border pact, which proposes to
prevent face-offs between the troops of the two countries along the over 4,000
km disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC), in its meeting on Thursday, sources
said here.

The visit to China
by the Prime Minister would be part of his two-nation tour, the first leg of
which will take him to Russia from October 20-22. During his stay, he will hold
talks with President Vladimir Putin.

In the second leg
of the tour, Singh will visit China and meet his counterpart Li Keqiang to hold
discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues with a view to
strengthening the partnership between the two countries, an MEA release said.

The Prime Minister
will also meet President Xi Jinping and National People's Congress Chairman
Zhang Dejiang, it said.

The BDCA is
expected to be signed during the Prime Minister's visit, sources said here.

They said there
are still certain differences over the modalities of some of the new CBMs agreed
upon between the two sides including a hotline to be established between the
two militaries but they are expected to be kept in abeyance for the time being.

The two sides are
understood to have agreed upon setting up a hotline between the two militaries
but so far, there is no agreement over the officers who would talk to each
other from either side.

India had proposed
a hotline between the Director Generals of Military Operations but the Chinese
side is understood to have conveyed that they do not have any such designation
in their Army.